Go from reactive chaos to strategic rhythm
If you’re a CMO in tech or telco, chances are your calendar looks like a patchwork of campaign approvals; internal ‘must‑dos’; and urgent firefighting. You’re spinning plates across long, complex buying cycles, managing multiple internal stakeholders with different opinions and their own objectives, while working hard to deliver plans to support rapid product development cycles. The list could go on, but every week brings a new top priority; every quarter, a new ambition; yet there’s rarely time to pause, reflect, or plan.
You’re not alone. Many senior marketing leaders are stuck on what feels like an accelerating treadmill. Strategic intent gets squeezed out by tactical noise, leading to diluted campaigns, brand inconsistency and, ultimately, slower progress against business goals. Teams burn out trying to do more with less. And somehow, despite all the activity, momentum still stalls.
The trap: busyness over impact
Modern marketing teams are drowning in good intentions. Sales wants support for their new push; product has a new feature to launch; leadership wants “something big” for next quarter.
But without a clear rhythm and rationale behind campaign planning, everything becomes a priority, and nothing gets the space it deserves.
Recent data from Marketing Week’s 2024 State of B2B Marketing survey shows that 58.8% of B2B marketers have been asked to deliver more with fewer resources over the past 12 months, while 42.2% saw their teams restructured to reflect changing pressures and demands.
So how do you calm the chaos not just for yourself, but for your team?
The shift: create operational rhythm
Even the most experienced marketing leaders can get pulled into reactive mode, but the most effective ones we’ve met, know how to pull out of this. They step back and take a higher level view and create a clear, repeatable rhythm that gives the team time to plan properly; execute with focus; and measure what works.
We call it the 4Rs model:
Rhythm
Anchor your marketing activity in 90‑day sprints. This cadence gives you enough time to plan strategically, respond to results, and reduce mid‑quarter curveballs. It brings structure that the whole team can get behind; not just leadership.
Rationale
Every campaign should earn its place. Tie requests and ideas back to business impact: revenue; reputation, or relationships. Build a campaign hierarchy that helps your team assess what’s worth their time and energy; so they’re not stuck delivering noise instead of value.
Relationships
In recent conversations with senior marketing leaders, one consistent topic has come up when discussing their successes. Relationships.
From sales, to c-suite, to customers; the marketing leaders who are nailing it right now have a seat at the table, huge respect from the board and sales, and often; shared KPIs so they are working together as one, laser focused growth machine.
Refusal
We’ve seen clients build credibility by introducing a transparent prioritisation model, based on a cross‑team understanding of what’s important and what’s not, making it easier to say no without damaging trust. Saying no to misaligned, last‑minute, or low‑impact requests isn’t about being difficult. It’s about protecting your team’s focus, your brand’s consistency and your commitment to aligning marketing and business objectives.
It’s a cultural shift, too
This isn’t just a scheduling fix. It’s about redefining how your marketing function operates; from top to bottom.
When your team sees a clear prioritisation model in place, it becomes easier for them to step away from the noise and say no without fear. When leadership sees marketing delivering sustained, strategic impact (not just short‑term activity); they stop sending so many reactive requests.
You’re not just creating breathing room for yourself; you’re giving your team the permission and process to focus on the work that truly moves the dial.
Ready to reset?
If your marketing calendar feels like it’s running you, not the other way around, we can help. onebite partners with tech and telco marketing leaders to create strategic clarity and operational calm, by acting as a sounding board and helping them navigate complexity, pressure and momentum stalls.
In a short 30 minute session, we can help you sense-check your plans, uncover blockers and explore how a clearer operational rhythm could create more space for impact.
Kiri Craig, Managing Partner
Kiri has been working in marketing agencies for almost 20 years, and in that time she has worked across a range of B2B and B2C sectors, from large enterprise clients to SMEs.
For the last decade, Kiri has been focused solely on B2B marketing, and as Managing Partner of onebite, Kiri draws on this experience to feed into B2B demand generation strategies for our clients and prospects, and to oversee onebite’s delivery.
At onebite, she’s curated a team of B2B demand generation specialists from the best talent on the market, helping our tech and telco clients launch, refine and amplify their brands to generate long-term revenue growth. Kiri’s passion and drive to deliver exceptional work for our clients is evident to everyone who meets her.
